Hampshire Ambulance Service is still failing to meet its target for emergency response times in Winchester and the surrounding countryside, latest figures reveal.

The Government's target is for at least 75% of "Category A" calls requiring life-saving treatment to be reached within eight minutes.

But figures for Mid-HantsPrimary Care Trust last July and August show only 60% of 999 calls were responded to within eight minutes. This compares to 72.5% for Hampshire as a whole in August.

The trust covers Winchester, Andover, Alresford, Ropley, Stockbridge, Bishop's Waltham, Whitchurch, Wickham and West Meon.

The poor summer results come after the service dramatically improved its performance from the worst in the country to exceeding the key NHS performance target by the end of 2001.

But a paramedic whistleblower said the "obsession" with reaching targets had left rural areas with a "second-class service".

He said response times were boosted by putting ambulances from across the county on standby in Portsmouth and Southampton where most incidents happened.

But this meant people in rural areas had to wait up to 30 minutes for an ambulance-too long if they were dying of a heart attack.

The figures were reported to a public board meeting of the primary care trust in Winchester Guildhall.

Chairman, Barbara North, said: "We must have a system that guards against focusing on urban areas at the exclusion of rural."

Hampshire has introduced several initiatives in a bid to improve emergency response times in rural areas.

These include new rapid-response vehicles and first-responder schemes, with volunteers trained to give advanced first aid until an ambulance arrives.

Christine Allen, joint chief officer for NHS patient watchdog, Mid-Hampshire CHC, said they were "very concerned" about the poor performance in Winchester.

"We understand it is more difficult to meet targets in rural areas because of the long distances involved. Rapid-response vehicles and first responder schemes were introduced to help with that but it is not showing in the figures."

A spokesman for Hampshire Ambulance Service said the volume of 999 calls had gone up by 6% this year.

"We deploy resources as best as we can to meet the Government target of 75% of Category A calls responded to within eight minutes."

She said although the ambulance service reports back to individual primary care trusts which fund it, NHS performance targets are assessed countywide and yearly, not monthly.

The ambulance service is still ahead of the target for April to August period.